The Writers’ Trust of Canada has announced a new fellowship that will award $150,000 to a trio of authors over three years in honour of the country’s 150th anniversary.

Each writer – one per year – will receive $50,000 to enable them the financial stability and freedom to focus on their work, as well as a one-week, self-directed residency at the Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Colony.

The program is intended for authors at any stage in their careers who have shown “exceptional creative ability” and promise in their body of published writing to date. Those working in the genres of fiction, poetry, books for young people, or literary non-fiction are eligible. An anonymous selection committee will choose the fellows based on recommendations from a panel of industry experts.

The inaugural writer will be announced at this year’s Writers’ Trust Gala at Toronto’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Nov. 25, with the final fellow announced in 2017, the year of Canada’s sesquicentennial.

Nominations will open in 2016.